How To Build a Crate for Fifty Cents

 Conquering The Mess One Crate At A Time 

 or

How To Build a Crate for Fifty Cents

There is a little storage issue in our house. It is appropriately named Val's-sewing-room-is-the-catch-all for-anything-with-no-home.  A while back I purchased an Ikea expedit to display pretty objects, but a recent and dangerous walk through my sewing/craft room convinced the practical me to turn my expedit into a storage solution.

 I picked these cupboard handles up at an architectural

clearance warehouse for fifty cents each. 

Then took a shopping trip to the scrap pile behind our garage.

Just look at all this treasure!

I still had some 1x2's and 1x3's left over from when I took an old box spring apart.

The boards are pretty ratty-looking, so I thought I would try planing instead of sanding.

         

Here is how they looked in the beginning.

This picture shows the different stages of planing.

I'm really happy with how they turned out.

 This is what I used to make one crate:

Front and Back:   10 1x3's @ 12 1/4" L
Sides:  10 1x3's @ 13 1/2" L

Corners:  4 1x2's @ 12 1/4" L

Bottom:  1/4" plywood cut to fit

I connected the 1x3's at each corner by gluing and nailing with my Ryobi 

Air Strike nail gun. Very nice, not having to set up the air compressor. 

I glued and nailed the 1x3's to the corner pieces.

For the bottom I just traced the crate onto a scrap of 1/4" plywood, 
cut out the bottom, and attached it with glue and nails. 

To make marks for the handle placement, I centered them,

and gave each end a light tap, creating dents in the wood.

I drilled holes to fit the cupboard bolts for attaching the handles.

Using a piece of cardboard propped up in the shop garbage bin, I attached 
the handles and sprayed them with Rustoleum Chalkboard paint.

The crate is finished with two coats of Minwax Early American followed by two coats of Varathane's Diamond Coat Finish in semi-gloss. 

                                                              

I have already filled this one, and would like to build five more.

That should keep me happy for awhile!

Have a great day, and Happy Building!

Val 

Linking to These Blogs:

The Sustainable Couple The Happy Housie